أمِنْ رَسمِ دارِ كاليماني المخلَّقِ

تهلهلَ إَّلا أنهُ لْم يُشبرقِ

From the drawing of the house of Kalimani the adorned

It swayed though it did not shine at dawn

عَفى غيرَ آريّ وَأشعثَ مُفْردٍ

وَسُفعٍ يحاميم وأطحل أورقِ

Except a bare, dishevelled, lonely old man

And an ugly, morose, sallow-skinned one

كان مُحيَّا رَبعه رَقشَتَّ به

سُطورُ يمين الكاتب المتألقِ

Its quarter was animated by the lines

Of the beautiful script of the dexterous scribe

تَصابيْتَ حتَّى بلْ مِمّا وجدتهُ

نجادكَ جاري دمعك المُترقرقِ

You wept until, from what you found,

Your wailing teardrops flowed copiously

أتبكي وما أبكاكَ غيرُ معَاهدٍ

كأنَّ بقايا رْسمهاَ سحقُ يلمَقِ

Do you cry when naught made you cry but ruins

As if the remains of its drawing were licked up?

لُموذيةِ أقٌوَت سِنيناً وَغَّيرتْ

معَاِهدها أيدي البلى والَتفرقِ

The elements wore it out over years and changed

Its foundations, the work of decay and separation

محتها الصَّبا حتَّى تبدَّتِ عراصُها

مُصوحاً وحتَّى رسمُها لمْ يحقَّقِ

The morning air erased it until its bare stones appeared

Obliterated, until its drawing was unrealized

وحتى كأن الحيَّ لمْ يغنَ قبلَها

بجرعائها والشَّملُ غيرُ مفرَّقِ

As if the living had not sung of it before

With its fresh springs, and ties unbroken

وحتى كأني لم أجرَّ ذُؤابتي

على كلِّ عدآءٍ كُميتٍ وأبلقِ

As if I had not dragged my train

Over every obstinate, malicious, fleeting enemy

بلى رُبَّ يومٍ ظلْت فيهِ مُنعَّماً

ببيضاءَ رَّيا السَّاق رَّيا المُنطّقِ

Yes, many a day I luxuriated in it

In the whiteness of its skin and girding belt

إذا أودعت أردافَها ثني مِنطقٍ

تفتَّقَ تمزيق الجهامِ المعبّقِ

When it deposited its thighs in a bending nook

It burst, rending the obstinate camel-saddle

كأن على أنيابها ماءَ مزنةٍ

يُعلُّ بخُرطوم العقار المُعتقِ

As if its fangs held Mayzana's water

Bubbling up through the sniffed spout of the brew

كِلفتُ بها غنَّاءَ غضَّا شَبابُها

وظلُّ شبابي سابغٌ لمْ يُرنَّقِ

I was infatuated by it, though its youth was plucked

While my youth remained lush, undeflowered

وَديمومةٍ مِثلُ السماءِ اعْتَسفتُها

لإدراكِ حاجٍ أو لتجديد موثقِ

And I sought permanence, like the enduring sky

To fulfill a need or renew a pact

ودَرْفسةٍ قد أذْهبَ النصُّ نيَّها

وأفنى ذراها كلُّ دَوٍ سَملّقِ

And a carcass which erosion had voided its text

And destroyed its dwellings, every short-lived structure

ترى كلّ عجلٍ منْ أناعيم مَهرَةٍ

وآةٍ جَنوفٍ لاحق البطن محبقِ

You see every brisk doe leaping nimbly

And a splendid roaming she-camel, belly girt

جُمالية ترمي الِفجاج إذا طَفتُ

عساقيلُها ظهراً كمقلةِ خرنقِ

A beauty who casts her glances when she sways

Her hips behind like the swinging of a sand-grouse

تطايرُ عيناها إذا ما وزعْتها

كأن بها إذ ذَاك طائفَ أولقِ

Her eyes take wing when she distributes her glances

As if a friendly bird accompanied them then

وماءٍ صرًى تعوي الطَّما ليلُ حولهُ

خفيّ الجَني ناء مُغشى بغلفقِ

And limpid water the darkness of night surrounds

Whose hidden side is covered in deepest gloom

إذا خضخضت ضحضاحه دلو مُائحِ

أتته مُغشاة بنْسج الخدرنق

When its bucket splashes in the water-drawer

It comes to it covered in the blackest night

طردتُ الذَّئابَ المُعط عن عرصاته

وقلتُ لعبدي هات دلوك فاستقِ

I drove the scabby wolves away from its valley

And said to my slave, "Bring your bucket and draw!"

وقد اغتدي والليل تُغرىُ جيوشه

على الغرب إذ جاءَ الصباح بفليقِ

And I was prepared as night deployed its legions

Against the west as dawn arrived in brightness

زعيم مُلوك من عَرانين يعربٍ

على ضمّر شبهِ السّراحين سبقِ

A chieftain of kings, an Arab of Arabs

On a roan like the lead mares, he took precedence

بمنجردٍ عاري النواهقِ شَيظمٍ

سليم الشظا وهن المطا والمُنطَّقِ

With smooth flanks and soft jawbone, harmonious

Short-backed, deep-chested, long-forelegged, barefoot

أقبَّ قصير الظهرِ نهد مطهّمٍ

طويل عماد الصدر أجرد أسوقِ

When it was said he had raided among Sa'al and Sa'alah

Foraying, and he was not cowardly, he acknowledged it

إذا قيل عادي بين صعلٍ وصعلةٍ

دراكاً ولم يبْلل عُذاراً فصدّقِ

As if I and my sword and blindness and my blame

Were upon my docile steed's saddlecloth

كأني وسَيفي والأصمِّ ولامتي

على ظَهر محنّي المنَاسِر شَوذقِ

And an army like the surging waves of the sea I charged,

Routing them in defeat like scattered ostriches

وجيشٍ كموج البحرِ مَجرٍ صدمتهُ

فهدّ انهزاماً كالنعام المفرّقِ

And I rose up, aided by the protector of truth, the glorious,

With a raging, wildly swaying, waving sword

ومستلئمِ حَامي الحقَيقَة ماجدٍ

علوتُ بعضبٍ ذي سفاسق مخفقِ

And with eloquence which twisted and coiled

More tightly than the tailor's twine and thread

وذي جدلٍ ألوى الدّ رميتهُ

بأحرج من سمّ الخياط وأضيقِ

And I routed a people guided by one inept

Like the braying of the passionate, snorting stallion

ومصقْع قوْمٍ رعتهُ ببَديهةٍ

كشقِشقة الفحل المهيج المشقشق

And I am the cave of refugees when the vicissitudes

Of fate oppress with diverse calamities

وإني لكهفُ المعتفين إذا طغتْ

حوادث دهرٍ بالنوائب مُطرقِ

Fate is but to raise up some humble thing

That it may debase the lofty and bring low the climber

وما الدَّهرُ إلا أن يُرفَّع خَاملاً

فيبذخ عزٌ أو ليخفض مُرتقي

Have you not seen that fate made the Thuba submit

And rightly gave the kingdom to Al Musharriq?

ألم ترَ أنْ الدَّهر ألوى بتبعٍ

وأبرا اختياراً ملكَ آل محرَّقِ

And it cast down my noble grandfather

And Fate bound him perforce with chains

والقي على كهلانَ جدِّي جرانهُ

وصبح عمْر والخيرِ قسراً بموثقِ

As if the turns of fate in their actions toward them

Chose the souls of kings and picked them out

كأنُ صروفَ الدهر من فعلها بهمْ

تخير أرواح الملوُكِ وتنتقي